1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for instruction processing and, more particularly, to systems and methods for providing multiplication computation instruction processing, pursuant to which the difference of two values transferred directly from a memory location in memory to an execution unit are squared.
2. Description of Prior Art
Processors, including microprocessors, digital signal processors and microcontrollers, operate by running software programs that are embodied in one or more series of instructions stored in a memory. The processors run the software by fetching instructions from the series of instructions, decoding the instructions and executing the instructions. Processors, including digital signal processors, are conventionally adept at processing instructions that perform mathematical computations on integers specified as a data word. For example, some processors are adept at performing simple mathematical computation, such as sum and difference operations, while others are adept at performing complex computations, such as multiplicative operations. In general, mathematical operations are performed by mathematical execution units in accordance with a set of mathematical instructions. Various mathematical instructions in the set of mathematical instruction are responsible for the performance of various aspects of the mathematical operation. The mathematical operation instructions specify the memory locations of a set of source operands contained in memory upon which to perform the mathematical operation. Typically, the set of source operands is transferred from the memory locations to registers prior to execution of the mathematical operation by appropriate mathematical execution units. These mathematical operations make inefficient use of processor resources and tend to reduce the performance of the processor. The inefficiency is due to the number of instructions required to perform a mathematical operation as well as the transference of the set of source operands from the memory locations in memory to registers inorder to perform the mathematical operation.
One such mathematical operation is an Euclidean distance operation, pursuant to which the difference of two operands is squared and the difference of two operands is calculated. Conventionally, this instruction would have to be implemented using a series of mathematical instructions. For example, a separate instruction would be required to calculate the difference of two operands, square the difference of the two operands, and store the square of the difference of the two operands. In addition, the two operands would be transferred from each of their respective memory locations in memory to registers prior to execution of the mathematical operations instructions by appropriate mathematical execution units. This technique requires multiple processor cycles and mathematical instructions, and accordingly, is inefficient.
There is a need for a new method of implementing mathematical operations within a processor that makes efficient use of processor cycles. There is a further need for a new method of implementing mathematical operations using a reduced number of mathematical instructions. There is also a need for a new method of implementing mathematical operations that transfer operands directly from data memory to mathematical execution units. There is a need for a new method of implementing mathematical operations that concurrently employs processor MCU ALU execution unit and DSP multiplier execution unit resources.